Hapoel Jerusalem took care of Hapoel Gilboa Galil 85-75 as five players scored in double digits to help the reds to the victory. Jared Harper, Yovel Zoosman along with Austin Wiley and Egor Koulechov paced Hapoel Jerusalem over the course of the first half while Ish El-Amin, Elijah Childs and Ben Moore countered for Hapoel Gilboa Galil but the hosts took a 47-35 lead at halftime.

Tarik Phillip started to find the basket for the capital city reds in the second half as Paul Scruggs and Childs countered for the visitors, but key baskets by Chris Johnson and Wiley sealed the deal for Jerusalem. Harper scored 17 points, Johnson added 14 points, Zoosman scored 13 points and Wiley chipped in with 12 points in the win. Childs and El-Amin scored 16 points each while Moore scored 14 points in the loss.

Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon spoke about the game and challenge that his team was tasked with overcoming, “We had a day off after the State Cup final and when we prepared for the game we knew that the real opponent here was going to be us after a big disappointment on Thursday and that’s what we did. We came into the game with a very short roster, which put more pressure on the guys, but we played correctly on both sides of the ball.”

“We weren’t aggressive enough in the first half but we showed a lot of character in the second half,” Hapoel Gilboa Galil Head Coach Sharon Avrahami said. “We were able to cut down the lead from 16 points to 8 and we would have liked to win but I can take some good things from this game.”

Tarik Phillip discussed the victory, “Games like this are always tough, but we stayed focused as we have a lot of things to accomplish. The focus on this game was on us. I feel good since returning to Jerusalem and I gave energy and effort to help the team pick up the win.”

Roie Netzia talked about the game from his point of view, “I’m not happy at all because we lost and my role is to bring the energy. We want to be better, we need to see our play become more consistent. This was an opportunity to pick up a win as Hapoel Jerusalem came in after the State Cup final game and they had injuries, so the result for us was disappointing.”

Bnei Herzliya got by Hapoel Galil Elyon 85-79 in a tight game that saw Chris Silva shine in the final frame to bring home the win. Silva scored 24 points, John Meeks added 18 points and Xavier Sneed put in 15 points in the victory, while Marcus Carr scored 19 points and Lior Carreira chipped in with 14 points in the loss.